Su Boyong had fallen, but the flurry of activity that followed wasn’t confined to the Eldest Branch alone. Once word came from the magistrate’s office, everyone understood — someone intended to move against the Su family. From that afternoon on, every resource the Su family had within the city sprang into motion. Shopkeepers, stewards, and various staff who could offer counsel began converging on the Su residence — from the Second Branch, the Third Branch… and matters concerning the Eldest Branch multiplied even further.
Su Tan’er had long managed half of the Eldest Branch’s business affairs, or so it was said, but behind that, Su Boyong had still been holding things down in the background. With him fallen, control over the entire Eldest Branch now fell squarely onto Su Tan’er’s shoulders. The old patriarch might consciously shoulder some of the burden, but he had more important matters to attend to — he was, after all, old, and could no longer step forward to carry the weight of the entire Su family himself.
After the old patriarch left that afternoon, Su Zhongkan and Su Yunfang also hurried off in anxious concern. Su Tan’er began summoning everyone she could gather to the residence — this time even calling in the shopkeepers previously under Su Boyong’s direct oversight. In truth, even sticking to the usual routine, these shopkeepers could hold things together for quite a while — but if someone truly was pulling strings behind the scenes, the Su family’s business across the entire country could become dangerously exposed, especially now with the city gates closed, when news traveling in and out would move who knew how many times slower than usual.
After hearing of Su Boyong’s condition, Su Tan’er’s mother had fainted; afterward Su Tan’er stayed by her side in the room while Ning Yi instructed Xiao Chan, Juan’er, and the others to go handle various minor matters outside. As the lanterns came on, he stepped out of the courtyard for a while; by the time he returned, lamps had already been lit in the room. Su Tan’er’s mother had also woken by then. Approaching the room, he could see the figures inside and hear voices. Su Tan’er’s mother and the two aunts were inside, crying and talking. Su Tan’er sat there in silence throughout. Ning Yi listened for a bit and more or less understood.
The three women were, at that moment, weeping and complaining about Su Tan’er — complaining about her stubbornness, her willfulness, complaining about… the whole matter of the imperial merchant appointment.
“I told her all along… what does a girl need to be so headstrong for…”
“This whole business — who knows whether Second Uncle or Third Uncle had a hand in it…”
“They know Tan’er’s about to become an imperial merchant…”
“There’s been talk about it these past few days…”
“Maybe it frightened them… if she really pulls it off, all their scheming will have been for nothing…”
“Even we simple womenfolk understand that much…”
Su Boyong had managed the Eldest Branch’s affairs quite well in most respects, but his wife — Su Tan’er’s mother — was rather weak-willed by nature, largely because she’d only given him a daughter, which left her without much standing to speak up in a household like this. Later, she’d helped arrange for Su Boyong to take two concubines, but the Eldest Branch still had no other children, and people eventually concluded the problem might lie with Su Boyong himself. By that point, though, everyone’s standing and manner within the household had more or less already been set.
In her early years, because Su Tan’er was a girl, her mother hadn’t doted on her especially, having set her heart on bearing a son. This probably laid the foundation for how mother and daughter interacted — much like the relationship between father and daughter, generally lacking in warmth. When Su Tan’er wanted to get involved in the family business, her mother had objected, but eventually said little more about it. Now, even if she found herself longing for a more ordinary mother-daughter relationship, she wouldn’t know how to go about it.
The two aunts normally had little say in front of Su Tan’er; even now, they only dared weep and drop veiled hints indirectly.
Few in the household knew that Su Tan’er was pursuing the imperial merchant appointment, and fewer still could have seen through to it — but even kept hidden, such a thing was bound to come out into the open eventually, since the officials handling imperial merchant matters, the Jiangning textile bureau affairs, would inevitably be exposed once things got serious. A few days before the gates closed, likely right after speaking with Xi Junyu, Su Tan’er had already formally met with the relevant figures, laying out one by one the connections she’d cultivated over the years. If the imperial merchant appointment truly came through this year, it would happen within the next month or two.
Once it came to light, everyone would take notice — especially the Su family. They’d originally hoped to trip Su Tan’er up, counting on her being a woman to knock her out of the running for family head, only to find this woman had quietly pulled off something this formidable in secret. If the imperial merchant business could be handled well and prove profitable, there would be nothing left to contest afterward.
In the days since the gates closed, this matter had been circulating in whispers and discussion, and then Su Boyong’s incident happened. Su Tan’er’s mother and the aunts mostly interacted only with people within the household, and whatever goodwill or ill will they sensed was directed at these family members — naturally, suspicion now fell on Su Zhongkan and Su Yunfang. Someone among them might have taken a desperate gamble — even if it meant selling out the family, at least it wouldn’t leave everything to Su Tan’er alone… better to get less than to get nothing at all… A woman’s mind, in circumstances like these, tended to circle around such thoughts.
At that moment, Su Tan’er’s mother wept, the two aunts wept, trading fragmented words of complaint and thinly veiled accusation — reflected in the figures cast against the window, Su Tan’er sat there the entire time, head lowered, silent, neither speaking nor defending herself. Ning Yi knocked on the door and opened it to find Su Tan’er still in the bloodstained clothes, sitting on a small stool by the bed, hands clenched in fists on her lap, gaze angled toward some point on the floor, cold and unmoving.
Ning Yi greeted the two aunts and his mother-in-law on the bed; his mother-in-law, still crying, didn’t acknowledge him — her expression held some resentment, but mostly grief. Resentment toward Su Tan’er for being so headstrong, likely resentment toward Ning Yi as her son-in-law too, and resentment toward the family members scheming for the estate — the two younger brothers-in-law, the Second and Third Branches. Common enough in a wealthy household.
“…Several of the shopkeepers have arrived, so I came to check in — Shopkeeper Liao has some things he needs Tan’er to look over…”
After the greeting, Ning Yi brought this up; Tan’er nodded, then wiped at the corner of her eye and quietly apologized to her mother and the two aunts before taking her leave — a somewhat formal, perfunctory farewell. But there was no room to dwell on such things now. Once out the door, out of the courtyard, Su Tan’er and Ning Yi walked along the path together, starlight filtering down. She gazed indifferently at the surroundings, walking in silence, until they reached the gate of their own courtyard, where Xiao Chan was already waiting, trotting over.
“Young master, the hot water’s ready.” She glanced over at her mistress.
Su Tan’er frowned. “Shopkeeper Liao—”
“I made that up,” Ning Yi said. “You’ve been sitting for a whole day now. If there’s still work to do tonight, go take a bath first.”
Su Tan’er froze for a moment, turned to glance at Ning Yi, and after a beat, nodded silently. “Husband, thank you…” Having said this, she started walking toward the courtyard, then he saw her raise a hand to wipe at the corner of her eye — though there was little hesitation in her steps. Ning Yi gestured to Xiao Chan to follow after her.
Under the star-filled night sky, the moon waned from full toward gibbous, as if something had taken a bite out of it. Moonlight, starlight, and lamplight all converged over the vast Su residence, mingling with the sounds of voices and hurried footsteps. Ning Yi stood there thinking for a moment, sighed softly — this night, it seemed, would be a sleepless one…
…
For half the night, the lamps in the neighboring courtyard stayed lit. Su Tan’er and the Eldest Branch’s shopkeepers held council through the night, trying to anticipate what might come next, discussing countermeasures, guessing at the identity of the enemy behind it all, and what allies they might seek going forward. There was still little to go on for now, but whatever preparations could be made needed to be made.
Xiao Chan, Juan’er, and Xing’er were all busy with their own tasks; by comparison, this courtyard felt rather empty. Ning Yi had little to do, since in most people’s eyes this wasn’t his affair, nor was it something within his ability to influence or change. He sat in the pavilion in the middle of the courtyard with half a bowl of peanuts, slowly shelling them while taking in the atmosphere drifting over from the great house, turning over the possible causes of this affair and where it might be headed.
Of course, there was hardly enough to go on, and it would have been impossible to reach any real conclusion. Xiao Chan, hurrying past along the corridor, saw no one else around and came over to hug him briefly before letting go, pressing her lips together. “Young master, are you worried?” she asked quietly, apparently meaning to comfort him. Ning Yi smiled, put a few peanuts into her hand. “I’m fine. Go on and help out. Keep an eye on Tan’er.”
The young maid nodded, tucked the peanuts into her robe, thought for a moment, then turned to leave. “Young master, get some rest soon…”
About an hour later, Juan’er passed under the eaves, glanced this way, then came over and sat down quietly. Ning Yi was idly arranging peanut shells on the table, treating them as stand-ins for the various parties with interests in this affair. Juan’er likely couldn’t make sense of it; she sat quietly for a while, her eyes flicking between the bowl of peanuts and Ning Yi. He glanced at her and pushed the bowl over. “What is it?”
Juan’er smiled. “When I passed by earlier, Xiao Chan took a peanut out of her robe and ate it, then went right back to work. I asked her about it, and she told me, smiling, that young master had given her a few peanuts, so she could make them last until dawn…”
“Oh, that impressive, huh…”
“So I came for one too.” Juan’er took a peanut from the bowl, shelled it, ate it, then rose to leave. As she left, she added, “Young master, get some rest soon…”
Ning Yi watched her retreating figure and shook his head with a small smile.
As for how busy the night truly was, that was hard to say — the real work fell on Su Tan’er and the many shopkeepers, mostly anxiety and deliberation, though for the time being there wasn’t much to go on. The people below mostly followed that mood, waiting it out; if they weren’t seen to be busy, they’d likely be accused of shirking their duty. For now, if there was any real breakthrough to be found, it still centered on that man Chen Er being held at the magistrate’s office. If the mastermind behind it all couldn’t be identified quickly, everything else would have to wait until the enemy made their next move.
Having thought through what he could, Ning Yi put away the bowl of peanut shells and went back to his room to sleep. He slept for perhaps an hour before waking again — by then it was the darkest, quietest stretch before dawn, though the unease and restlessness across the entire Su residence could still be clearly felt. He carried a cup of tea out with him; the neighboring courtyard had already gone dark, the shopkeepers who’d come for the council presumably having left, and Xiao Chan, Juan’er, and Xing’er likely off resting for a bit. The lamp was still lit in Su Tan’er’s room. As Ning Yi approached, he saw her holding a brush, staring blankly at the oil lamp’s flame on the desk, a half-written letter spread open before her — clearly meant to be sent out of the city.
Ning Yi walked to the window and set the teacup down on the desk. Only then did Su Tan’er inside seem to register his presence; she looked up sharply at him, and then her gaze settled, quieting, as she stared distractedly at the teacup pushed toward her before reaching out to take it, lowering her head.
“It’ll be dawn soon,” Ning Yi said.
Su Tan’er nodded but didn’t answer. She sat in silence for a long while before finally looking up, offering a faint smile — one touched with sorrow, yet also with a certain openness. “Mother… and the aunts think someone might have taken a desperate gamble because the imperial merchant matter got out. Some of the shopkeepers… think so too. That the Second and Third Branches might be involved…”
“This world has no shortage of fools,” Ning Yi said, nodding. “But fools can’t pull off something this big.”
“Heh…” Su Tan’er smiled faintly. “Even if they were involved, they couldn’t have masterminded it. Besides, the Second and Third Branches have only known about the imperial merchant matter for a few days — they wouldn’t be that decisive, couldn’t possibly have made up their minds to sell out the family this fast, and even if they had decided, they wouldn’t have the means. Whoever’s behind this must have been planning it for a long time. But even so… it doesn’t mean it has nothing to do with me at all.”
Su Tan’er acted with resolve and determination; even after all this, tonight she still calmly began handling everything, actively responding, holding the whole situation together. Her father had already fallen — she simply could not afford to fall too. Such a temperament was tougher than that of most men, and it was precisely this attitude that made things actually get done. But even as she said all this, there was still the glint of tears in her eyes. She lifted her head and reined the tears back.
“But no matter what, once I’ve decided to do something, I’ll do it — there’s bound to be resistance, resistance of every kind imaginable. If I tried to avoid all of it, I’d never accomplish anything at all. Husband… I’ll see this through. Once it’s done, everything will become clear.”
Su Tan’er looked at him, offered a smile, then sniffled. These words were less for Ning Yi’s benefit than for her own. Ning Yi nodded, turned to leave, then turned back.
“The tea’s freshly brewed. Finish up early, get some rest early.”
“Thank you, husband…”
They were, in a sense, the same kind of person — Ning Yi understood that much. A crisis was a crisis, and perhaps this particular blow had come too suddenly and too hard, but Su Tan’er didn’t need much sympathy. For the Su family as a whole, this was simply another crisis to weather. Everything that needed doing, everything that could be done, she understood with perfect clarity — all he needed to do was watch her handle it.
And yet, over the following days, perhaps due to some unforeseen turn of events, the entire situation would take a sharp and sudden turn for the worse…
…
For the next few days, Ning Yi didn’t leave the residence.
The situation within the Su family remained chaotic. All Ning Yi could do was watch — there was nothing for him to intervene in. During these days, the old patriarch Su Yu, along with Su Zhongkan and Su Yunfang, frequently went out to call on various people, but at the magistrate’s office, there had still been no new progress regarding Chen Er. Several of the Eldest Branch’s shopkeepers made repeated visits to officials at the textile bureau, and even amid all this turmoil, they made an unmistakable show of determination to secure the imperial merchant appointment no matter what — precisely the right approach that Su Tan’er had employed. She’d spent over a year laying the groundwork for this; once it came into full view, it was an ambition and resolve striking enough to leave others speechless.
Su Boyong’s condition still hung between life and death, with no telling how it would ultimately resolve. Everyone waited in silence. Su Tan’er visited him once each day, and continued handling business affairs without fail, rain or shine.
Ning Yi would occasionally sit upstairs watching the shopkeepers come and go, catching bits of the latest developments; more often, he read, practiced calligraphy, and quietly organized his thoughts on how things were unfolding.
Something shifted quietly at some point — no one quite noticed when. Four days after Su Boyong fell, on the morning of roughly the twenty-second of the seventh month, Ning Yi noticed something had changed in Su Tan’er’s spirits. She seemed to have caught a cold, but the change wasn’t merely physical — there was something different in her bearing compared to when she’d spoken with him these past few evenings.
That evening, after many shopkeepers were once again summoned to the residence for discussions, and Xiao Chan, Juan’er, and Xing’er had gone off to help receive them, Su Tan’er had fallen asleep slumped over her desk in her room. A few sheets of letter paper had blown off the desk in the breeze. Ning Yi picked them up and brought them back inside, setting them on the table beside her, weighing them down with a paperweight. Su Tan’er suddenly woke, stood up, bumped into his chest, then stepped back two paces, and upon seeing it was him, smiled weakly. “Ah, husband.”
Ning Yi looked her over. “Are you running a fever?”
“Hm?” Su Tan’er blinked, reached up to touch her forehead, and after a moment laughed and shook her head. “No, I’m not. Just a bit tired these past few days, husband knows how it is… it’ll pass once things are settled.”
Having said this, she turned to gather up the letters on the desk. Then Juan’er came in to say the shopkeepers had arrived; Su Tan’er gave Ning Yi an apologetic smile, exchanged a few words, and left with Juan’er.
That night, Ning Yi stood at the window upstairs, looking out over the scene in the neighboring courtyard — several servants and maids of the Eldest Branch stationed outside while the meeting went on within, everyone discussing a jumble of matters. Su Tan’er’s spirits still seemed fine; he saw her speaking a few times. Having watched for a while, Ning Yi sighed, turned, went downstairs, and headed over to that courtyard.
Though the meeting was underway, the maids managing things there were Xiao Chan, Juan’er, and Xing’er; seeing Ning Yi’s grave expression, none of them thought to stop him — only Xing’er followed after him. “Young master, what’s wrong?”
“What exactly has been going on? How many days has your mistress been ill?”
“Young mistress…” Xing’er froze, then nearly burst into tears. “We… we only found out today too, but, but…”
Ning Yi walked into the room. Su Tan’er stood with her back to the door, her left hand braced on the edge of the desk, her head lowered as her right hand tapped repeatedly on the table, saying something. When she saw Ning Yi enter, the shopkeepers all turned to look. Ning Yi walked over and patted Su Tan’er’s shoulder; she waved a hand instinctively. He patted again, and she finally turned around, a little puzzled, but still managed a faint smile. “Husband, you—”
The instant her left hand left the desk, her body was already swaying. Ning Yi pressed his palm to her forehead — it was faintly burning hot. Su Tan’er lowered her head, gripping his hand with both of hers.
“I’m fine, I’m fine…”
She murmured this, and then her body went limp. Xi Junyu stepped forward from the side, reaching out to help, but Ning Yi had already scooped Su Tan’er up into his arms.
“Young mistress!” Xiao Chan, Juan’er, and Xing’er all rushed in, and the shopkeepers stood up too, eyes wide, voices rising in confusion. But a moment later, one voice cut calmly through the noise — not loud, but clear enough for everyone to hear.
“Continue your discussion. Shopkeeper Liao, please take charge for now. Juan’er, go fetch Physician Sun. Xiao Chan, come with me. Xing’er, stay here and keep an eye on things. Everything proceeds as normal.”
Having said this simply, Ning Yi, brow furrowed, turned and left, carrying Su Tan’er.
The night sky hung deep and dim, heavy rain clouds pressing in over the city from the horizon. The night wind carried a slight chill, but the woman’s body in Ning Yi’s arms burned scalding hot. As he laid Su Tan’er down on the bed in her room, her lips parted slightly, her face flushed red with fever, her head still shaking faintly, unconsciously…